Return to Paradise Review
by Alex Fung (aw220 AT FreeNet DOT Carleton DOT CA)August 27th, 1998
RETURN TO PARADISE (Polygram - 1998)
Starring Vince Vaughn, Anne Heche, Joaquin Phoenix, David Conrad, Jada Pinkett Smith
Screenplay by Wesley Strick and Bruce Robinson
Produced by Alain Berheim, Steve Golin
Directed by Joseph Ruben
Running time: 109 minutes
**1/2 (out of four stars)
Alternate Rating: B-
Note: Some may consider portions of the following text to be spoilers. Be forewarned.
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The moral dilemma in RETURN TO PARADISE looms everpresent throughout the picture's middle hour, inextricably tightening a noose around its protagonist's neck. More ethical examination than suspenseful potboiler -- its sparse location usage and reliance upon persuasive conversation to facilitate the high drama result in a nagging resemblance to a filmed stageplay -- this is a sober morality play told in shades of gray.
In earlier days, where rectitude in the movies was as subtle as the black and white ten-galloners worn in westerns, the course of action would be automatic: if the lead had the means to spare a condemned man's life by owning up to his involvement in the crime and turning himself in, by God, he bit the bullet and did the time. It's the sort of selfless display which plays as suitably noble in a
simplified world but is implausibly straightforward for a brooding take of modern realism.
Sheriff's (Vince Vaughn) quandary is even more deliciously sticky. As informed by advocate Beth (Anne Heche), Lewis (Joaquin Phoenix) is scheduled to hang in eight days as a drug trafficker, but a deal has been struck to spare his life if his two cohorts return to Malaysia and accept their culpability -- three years imprisonment each if they both surrender, but six years should only one decide to face the music. Sheriff, of course, doesn't want to see Lewis die -- but, then again, neither does he particularly want to rot in a jungle prison; wouldn't it be less messy if Tony (David Conrad) went back to do the honours instead?
It's an ethical predicament made all the more delicate by the set of circumstances: the male trio only vaguely know each other, having met during a fleeting comradeship two years ago. Sheriff's indirectly responsible for Lewis' death sentence -- the discovery of his sloppily-discarded brick of recreational hash pushed Lewis over the legal limit, designating the crime as trafficking rather than mere possession -- but still, the instinct of self-preservation is strong enough (especially in a New Yorker) that it's difficult to make this sort of sacrifice for a close friend, let alone a long-ago associate.
While the film doesn't browbeat -- the filmmakers are smart enough to realize that while the audience wants Sheriff to do the right thing, it may very well be a hypocritical sentiment -- it's not exactly subtle with its characterizations. Even a virtuous man put in this dilemma would have second thoughts, so to depict Sheriff as an amoral, looking-out-for-Number-One character is unnecessarily heavy-handed. Not only is he not the nice-young-professional sort that Tony is (who even has a sweet fiancee -- talk about tipping the scales), but Sheriff's also apparently the kind of shifty guy that gets confronted in restaurants by angry ex-lovers and even prompt fathers to expect the worst. Sheesh.
Sheriff's character arc, then, is tidily well-defined and
consequently apparent from the outset: initally directionless, the crisis prompts him to experience a personal awakening, stirred from his moral reverie by the growing realisation of his own
self-involvement and the love of a good woman. This last element, in particular, struck me as superfluous; the love story, though
thematically appropriate, is narratively jarring and lends little catharsis to the film.
Still, despite the scenario's obvious setup, the lack of any evident urgency (the days are counted down with occasional onscreen
subtitles, but even a permanent running chronometer wouldn't add enough tension to overcome the lackadaisical pacing), and the inevitable outcome (though its antecedent -- it's based on the 1990 French film FORCE MAJEURE -- often teases at a more oblique course), it nonetheless sustains interest as the cerebral chess game of pursuit and evasion develops between Sheriff and Beth; beneath their posturing, their arguments often seem to be as much to convince themselves as they are to sway their intended parties.
The picture falls apart in its final reel, full of melodramatic revelations and twists unworthy of the preceding intrigue, but the actors do what they can to salvage it. This is a particularly well-cast film -- Jada Pinkett Smith's characteristic verve is nicely channelled into controlled insistence as an ambitious news hound, while Mr. Phoenix turns in a vivid performance as the martyr Lewis; beneath his menacing features, he conveys the same innate sweetness as exhuded in his impressive breakthrough performance in Gus Van Sant's TO DIE FOR. Ms. Heche, splendid actor and uncanny
presidential barometer (she starred in WAG THE DOG when tensions increased in the Gulf and L'Affaire De Lewinsky first broke, and now appears here in a film dealing with a man coming to terms with taking responsibility for his past actions and submitting himself to inquisition -- boy, I can't wait to see what happens when her PSYCHO hits theatres) is in fine form with a quiet, focused intensity.
At the end of the day, though, it all feels a bit slight. RETURN TO PARADISE is terribly earnest and well-intentioned, but it doesn't quite achieve the degree of gravity or profundity that it strives for; it's an agreeable 110 minutes which involves for the duration, but vaporizes from the mind shortly thereafter.
- Alex Fung
email: [email protected]
web : http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~aw220/
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Alex Fung ([email protected]) | http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~aw220/ "...a first screenplay unaccompanied by a powerful agent or industry sponsor is generally a pathetic fetus of a film, nothing more." - Andrew Sarris
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